


(When I Think Of Him) There's Comfort In The Cold

by Anonymous



Category: As It Is (Band), Set It Off (Band), Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Awsten Swears A Lot, Fluff and Angst, If You're Wondering Everyone Else Shows Up But Those Three Are The Main Ones, It's Also Tagged As Major Character Death But It's Temporary, M/M, Minor Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Temporary Character Death, There's Only An OC Because I Didn't Know Who To Make The Villain, Vampires Have Superpowers Now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 14:43:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18830770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Awsten hates the things his friends put him through, except when they lead him to a mysterious stranger in the woods. Being Awsten, he's not just going to let that go, and of course, being Awsten, it gets him into all kinds of trouble.





	(When I Think Of Him) There's Comfort In The Cold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [caimani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimani/gifts).



> A first fic, gifted to caimani for being awesome and encouraging me after I sent a message out of nowhere on Tumblr. It started as a short fluff idea, and evolved into this monster. Any and all issues are my own, please forgive me

_Crack._

_You just stepped on a twig_ , Awsten tells himself. Fucking Geoff, getting him into this shit. What kind of fucking dare was this, anyway?

“Go into the woods on your own at night and take a picture of yourself touching the tree in the haunted clearing, Awsten. It’ll be fine, Awsten. Nothing’s out there, Awsten. _Fucking_ Geoff,” Awsten mutters to himself, bitterly. He has so many things that would be better to spend his time on, and instead he let himself be goaded into this bullshit.

It’s not entirely Geoff’s fault, Awsten will admit. It’s also Otto’s, and Jawn’s, and Travis’. His friends are assholes. They get him into this kiddy game of truth or dare, give each other easy, boring dares, and then send him into the forest where people keep disappearing.

Awsten doesn’t like to be scared. He’s trying not to be scared right now. Unfortunately, it’s not really working. He can’t stop thinking about all the other people - mostly his own age - who’ve gone missing round here. The most recent one was only about a month ago, some dude called Ronnie. He cant help but remember even more of the people who disappeared: a dude called Patrick who went by his surname which Awsten couldn’t remember right now, someone called Ali, even a guy Awsten had considered a friend called Ben. All _deeply_ reassuring, _obviously_.

He digs his nails into his palm so he stops thinking about it. This isn’t the time. It’s all a coincidence, it can’t be anything else. He steps into the clearing, the light shining from his phone acting as a torch so he doesn’t trip over a root or something. That would really just cap off the evening, breaking a limb falling over a goddamn tree.

He reaches the tree and unlocks his phone to take the picture. He hopes the others are happy with whatever shitty picture they get; he’s sure it’ll be grainy because of how dark it is. He has just enough time to see the battery level - 73% - before his phone goes completely dark, the flashlight shutting off and the screen becoming blank.

What. The. Fuck. 

Awsten’s eyes begin to adapt to be darkness. It’s a full moon, and because he’s in a clearing right now it’s not too bad. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

“Fuck.”

He can’t go back without a picture, the others will never let him live it down, but he really doesn’t want to stay here. He presses the power button on his phone uselessly, swearing even more under his breath. He glances up, feeling that it’s probably just because of paranoia, and he almost has a heart attack.

There’s someone stood in front of him, a guy (a hot guy, a _beautiful_ guy) with skin as white as a sheet as a result of the pale moonlight and the sharp contrast with his black hair. He’s dressed in black, and without the moon Awsten doesn’t think he’d have known he was there.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the other person says, voice raspy, whether from disuse or something else Awsten can’t tell.

“Well if I shouldn’t be here, why can you be here?” Awsten retorts, wishing he had something cleverer to say.

“Please.” The guy sounds like he’s begging, which is _really_ weird.

“Look, I can’t go til I’ve got a picture with this stupid tree. My friends are assholes.” Awsten stands his ground. The guy pulls out a Polaroid camera from somewhere (and seriously, what the hell) and snaps a picture of Awsten before handing it to him.

“There. Now get out of here,” says the guy Awsten has started calling Mr Dark and Mysterious in his head.

“I didn’t get your name,” Awsten blurts out. “I’m Awsten, if that helps.”

“I didn’t give it,” says the guy. “Go home, Awsten.” Awsten glances down at the picture in his hand, and when he looks up, the guy has gone. 

\--------

Awsten doesn’t tell the others about the man in the forest, even though they ask where he got a Polaroid camera.

He can’t stop thinking about what had happened, and he starts to have dreams. They’re alarmingly vivid, and they all feature the person from the woods.

The dreams are all almost identical. He’s stood in the clearing, with Mr Dark and Mysterious directly in front of him. On either side are the guys who went missing in the last few months, but there’s something different about them - their faces all look sharper than in the pictures from the news, more gaunt, more ethereal.

“Are you sure?” asks Mr Dark and Mysterious. “I... I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.”

“I trust you,” Awsten replies, and in the dream he knows it’s true. He thinks that if the man opposite him asked, he’d drive a knife into his own chest.

“You shouldn’t,” warns the man. Ben steps forward from the lines of missing people, resting his hand on the man’s shoulder to get his attention and murmuring something that Awsten can’t hear. The man steps forward, and the only way the dreams diverge starts here.

Sometimes, the man kisses Awsten, and Awsten wakes up feeling cold and alone without the man - whose name he doesn’t even know - beside him. Other nights, before the man even reaches him, a knife stops Awsten meeting the man in the middle. It comes through from the back, the tip just visible between two of his ribs, and he falls forward, and he startles awake gasping for air with the man’s voice crying his name, anguished, ringing in his ears. 

After a week, Awsten goes back to the clearing. It’s daylight, this time, and he runs a hand over the rough oak tree in the middle, glancing around for the stranger he feels like he’s already getting to know. He sits there until the sun sets, when he reluctantly gets up and goes home.

This happens for days. Any spare time Awsten has, he spends in the woods, sitting, waiting. He makes his way home every evening, dreams about the beautiful stranger, and repeats.

He doesn’t realise how long it’s been since he saw the others until Geoff knocks on his door as he’s pulling on a jacket to head out to the forest.

“There you are!” Geoff exclaims, and Awsten’s taken aback by the relief in his voice. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Around,” Awsten replies distractedly, rummaging around for his keys, “look, I have to go, I have somewhere to be.”

He’s about to hustle Geoff out the house so he can leave when his friend grabs his arm, although the latter looks immediately apologetic for manhandling the other.

“No. We haven’t seen you for weeks. When we do talk to you, you’re distracted, and it’s not like you. We’re worried, even though some of the others are awful at showing it. Where are you even going?”

“Let go of me,” Awsten says, surprising even himself with how venomous his tone is, as he shoves his way out the door. Work had gone on longer than usual today, and he’s late. Maybe he’ll even stay a little longer than usual to make up for it. 

“Awsten, wait!” Geoff calls after him. Awsten’s already gone.

\--------

When he reaches the clearing, the sun’s already setting. He sits in his usual spot, leaning against the old oak, and waits.

He loses track of time, but for once, his journey back here pays off. The stranger, his stranger, is back. Awsten scrambles to his feet, but before he can go anywhere, the stranger slams him against the tree, pressing his right arm over Awsten’s throat and pinning him there.

“Why are you here again?” asks Mr Dark and Mysterious, and his tone is as fearful as it is angry.

“I was looking for you,” Awsten chokes out, and the guy’s grip tightens briefly as his gaze flickers down from Awsten’s eyes, although Awsten can’t tell what he’s looking at. Then he half-throws himself backwards, away from Awsten.

“You shouldn’t,” says Mr Dark and Mysterious. Awsten is forcibly reminded of his dreams.

“I’ve been dreaming about you,” Awsten blurts out, “and the guys who vanished here. But mostly you. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

The stranger’s face crumples, and Awsten kind of hates himself for causing that expression. The other man shoves his black hair out of his eyes, with a look that Awsten thinks at first glance means that his stranger is crying. A closer inspection shows that he isn’t, and Awsten doesn’t know how someone can look so sad without crying.

“I was afraid you’d say that.” The other’s tone is much softer than Awsten’s heard from him outside of his dreams. “I’ve been dreaming about you too.”

\--------

“I guess that means I should actually tell you my name. You’re just going to keep coming back, aren’t you?” says the stranger. He’s not angry, just sad, and maybe even ever so slightly affectionate. Awsten hopes that’s not just wishful thinking on his own part. 

“Uh, yeah. I’m real fuckin’ good at that,” Awsten says, and a beautiful smile lights up the man’s face.

“I, uh... I’m Patty,” he - Patty - tells him, and Awsten decides then and there that Patty is his favourite name ever.

“Why weren’t you here before?” Awsten asks, hating how needy this sounds, searching for a guy he’d met once before this.

“You, um... you came in the daytime,” Patty says awkwardly. He looks like he’s about to say something else when a group of others emerge from the trees. It’s the missing guys, looking exactly as they had in Awsten’s dream - recognisable but otherworldly.

“Patty,” says Ben warningly, but there isn’t a follow up on what exactly Patty is being scolded for.

“Ben...” Patty sounds lost. Awsten’s just getting impatient.

“Awsten. Now that we’ve done names, can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Ben barely spares him a glance.

“Patty, I know him. You can’t tell him, he can’t keep a secret no matter how hard he tries, and unlike us, it’s not like he wouldn’t have a choice.”

Patty reels back like he’s been struck. “He hasn’t said anything yet. And you know I didn’t... he was trying to get me to break.”

“And he almost succeeded every time. You know we don’t blame you, but it was last minute that you stopped. Awsten has a choice.”

“Awsten is right here. Awsten is sick of having to refer to himself in the third person to get you to listen. You never used to be such an asshole, Ben.”

Ben scowls at that, and the ghost of a smile appears on Patty’s lips. It’s probably really lame that that’s making Awsten proud of himself. 

“Ben, I... there’s something, okay? I don’t know what, but there’s definitely something. I never dreamt of you - of any of you,” Patty half-begs.

“Damn, telling it straight. You saying we’re not good enough to dream of?” That’s one of the others, and the joking tone gets even Ben smiling.

“Fine, fine. Whatever,” Ben grumbles, but he’s still grinning slightly. “And by the way, Ronnie, I’m absolutely worth dreaming about, fuck you.”

Ronnie gives Ben the finger lazily, and the group, which seems to have nearing ten guys in it, looks at Patty somewhat expectantly. 

“Jesus, why are you all looking at me like that?”

“We just want to see how you explain it to him without the evidence we had,” one of them says, a mischievous tone in his voice.

“Alright, alright, just shut up and let him say something, and pretend you’re not listening,” Ben tells them in a put-upon manner, rolling his eyes, and they all stop staring at Patty even though they’re clearly still paying attention.

“Right. Um. Well. Uh...” Patty obviously doesn’t know how to put what he’s about to say, but Awsten can’t help but be endeared at his attempts to say it without already knowing how to put it. Unfortunately, the endearment quickly disappears as Patty says something which makes Awsten convinced that the other boy is halfway to Crazy Town. “So... we’re vampires.”

\--------

“Uh-huh. Yeah, and I’m Batman,” Awsten says. He’s a little bit numb. He’d been expecting some big secret, and instead he got this shit.

“No, I mean it,” Patty insists, “watch.”

Before Awsten can even blink, Patty’s already next to Ben, lifting him up by nothing more than the front of his shirt. Ben yells in surprise before rolling his eyes and letting out a weird sort of growl.

“All you’re proving right now is that you’re on a fuckton of steroids,” Awsten says, wishing his back wasn’t against the tree so he had more space to back away from the group of crazy people in front of him.

“I said it’d be funny,” says the one who spoke earlier.

“Shut up, Foley,” Patty almost whines, “you’re making this so fucking difficult.”

“You made it difficult for yourself by telling him, mate,” points out another of the group - Awsten thinks from the news reports that he’s called Ali.

“Alright, so that didn’t work. That’s fine.” Patty sounds like he’s trying to reassure himself more than anyone else. He walks towards Awsten slowly, as if he’s approaching a scared animal. “Okay, watch this.”

Awsten thinks that the expression Patty is making to show his mouth would be hilarious if not for two things: first, no matter how insane he sounds, he’s still stunning no matter what he does, and second, his teeth are _literally lengthening into points, Jesus Christ, what the hell?_

“Mother _fucker_!” Awsten yelps, flattening himself further against the oak behind him.

Patty stops in his tracks, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. He looks like he wants to cry again, and Awsten feels that twist of guilt again. He’s a bit mad about that. He’s now in fear of actually being eaten, and he’s the one feeling guilty? Fuck off with that.

“I’m sorry. I never meant to... I wouldn’t have even shown these guys, but there’s someone who... They would have died if I hadn’t. I just... you’re... you’re _something_.”

“Something. Right. That’s comforting,” Awsten snarks, “is that something fucking dinner?”

“Don’t be a dick, Awsten,” says Ben, exasperated, “he’s being honest with you, even though I think he should just have sent you away. Give him a break.”

“I promise, Awsten, I don’t wanna hurt you,” Patty says, almost begging.

“Yeah? Then why did you say these guys would have died?”

Everyone else in the clearing studiously looks anywhere but at Patty or Awsten. Ben particularly looks incredibly uncomfortable. After a long silence, Patty opens his mouth, but what comes out isn’t an answer.

“We shouldn’t talk about this here. We’ve got a house, nearer to the town,” he responds, biting his lip so hard that if he still had his fangs out he’d probably have bitten right through it.

“Y’all are fucking crazy,” Awsten protests, but then he sighs. “Fine, where are we heading?”

\--------

It’s a nice house. Awsten’s face clearly registers surprise at that, since Patty laughs, his whole face lighting up with it.

“Did you think we’d live in a cave? Or like, some broken-down old mansion?”

“I guess not. Don’t y’all have to invite me in or some shit?” Awsten grumbles.

“It’s you who’d have to invite us in. And actually, that one’s a myth,” Patty says, still grinning.

“So you can kill me in my sleep whether I invite you in or not. Nice to know,” Awsten replies, the bravado clearly covering discomfort. 

The negativity emanating from Awsten makes Patty bite his lip. He opens the door and pulls Awsten through to the living room. The latter silently scolds his own heart for missing a beat as Patty grabs his hand. He folds himself onto the sofa, and Patty takes a seat next to him. The rest sit around the room, some on seats, some on the floor, and one cross-legged on the coffee table in the middle.

“So, um. Before I explain, I should probably tell you who everyone is. You already know Ben,” Patty begins. Ben gives a wry, half-hearted smile. “That’s Foley and Ali,” he continues as the two on the sofa across the room wave at Awsten, “and I guess you’ve figured out by now that that’s Ronnie.” Ronnie gives a joking salute from his armchair by the fireplace. “The two on the floor there are Cody and Zach.” The pair give grins and waves. “Dan’s sat in the armchair behind them, and the asshole who’s going to break my favourite coffee table if he keeps sitting on it like that is Maxx.”

Maxx pouts. “You wouldn’t let me go home and get Pistol, so I have to be the cat who sits on the furniture! It’s basic logic, Patty.”

“Sure it is,” says Cody, “and if Pistol was here you absolutely wouldn’t dream of doing half the weird shit you do.” It’s obviously sarcastic, but there’s a lot of affection there. Awsten is forcibly reminded of Geoff dealing with the shit he does on a regular basis, and he squashes a wave of guilt for treating his friend the way he had earlier that evening. 

“Well, regardless of whether you can successfully harass me into retrieving your pet,” Patty interjects, amused, “that’s not really the point here. The main problem is Isaac.”

\--------

The room grows sombre at the name, and even Maxx looks visibly chastened.

Awsten raises an eyebrow at that. He’s never seen a room with so much energy go quiet so quickly. “Well?” he prompts. “You can’t stop there.” Patty turns to look at him, his face etched with worry lines.

“Isaac is... he’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen. We used to be... friends, I guess. He turned me, made me believe that I had to be... a certain way. In order to be a vampire, I mean. The worst part was... I liked it. I loved it, loved hurting people, loved watching them suffer. I lost my mind every time I fed. Until... one day, I found someone. She showed me how to live without being that way. But I wasn’t careful enough.”

His breathing hitches, and Awsten holds back the urge to hold his hand, to reassure him. The concerned look Ben gives indicates similar feelings of concern, but he also looks resigned. That’s when Awsten realises that he’s heard this story before - in fact, he’s almost certainly heard it multiple times. Patty sighs, then continues.

“Isaac noticed I kept sneaking out, that I wasn’t feeding with him anymore. He followed me one night, when I was going to see her. She’d been moving me away from killing people, doing the whole cheesy ‘eating animals’ thing that you hear about in teen fiction. He... Isaac hated that. He wanted me as vicious as he was. That night, when I returned, he chained me up. He hurt her... Jesus, she was... it was awful. He tied her up too, brought in some... stranger from the street. He cut them so I could smell the blood and fed them to me, and the second I had human blood in my mouth again, I lost all the humanity I’d clawed back. I ripped the guy to shreds, heard his screams and revelled in them. Then Isaac killed... her. The one who’d helped me. The last thing she saw was me failing her.”

Patty’s doing that face again, the one where he would be crying if he were still human. Awsten can’t blame him. He’s horrified himself, and he hadn’t been the one experiencing it firsthand. He can’t think of anything to say. There isn’t really anything he can say. Everything that Patty’s said has sucked any levity that might have been remaining from the air and left an uncomfortable silence in its wake. After a pause, Patty seems to collect himself, and he continues.

“Once I realised what I’d done, I ran. I’d been living in England for a short while, and so I fled back here. I traveled the States for a while. Everywhere I’d go, I fled the moment I heard whispers of Isaac. I’ve been here, in the woods, for about a decade, and I thought I was free. I had this house, and stories of a haunted wood which far predate me which were a good cover for anything I could possibly do. Then, a couple of months back, I was in the clearing when I heard someone in pain.”

Awsten thinks he knows who it had been, especially given the look on Ben’s face.

“When I found Ben, he was bleeding. Shit, it was everywhere,” Patty says, half-lost in the memory of the sight, “and he was in pain, but he was nowhere near dead. The amount of blood was... I couldn’t stand it. It drove me crazy, and the next thing I knew he was drained almost dry, and I was covered in his blood. I panicked. I turned him, and I was so, so scared it wouldn’t work. I’d never done it before, I only knew the method from what Isaac told me almost forty years ago. And I sat there and waited for him to wake up. But whilst I was waiting... I saw a note. I read it. And it was from Isaac. It said that he’d found me, finally, and that this was his first gift to me. He warned me that if I didn’t go with him, he’d do it again and again until I gave in, but from the wording of it I knew he never expected me to turn Ben.”

This time Awsten really does take Patty’s hand. He feels a bit weird about doing it, but Patty’s grateful look at him dispels all of that. He feels a bit fuzzy in the aftermath of the look, which is confusing given how depressing his story had been.

“Isaac’s been doing it ever since. After Ben, there was Ali, then Foley, and I figured it was the British thing, to prove the point. But then it was Cody, and Maxx, and Dan, and Zach, and Ronnie. I’d leave, but now... I owe it to these guys to stay and stop him,” Patty finishes, threading his fingers absentmindedly between Awsten’s. Once again, Awsten’s heart jumps. He’s so, _so_ mad that he’s feeling so strongly about Patty when this is only the second time they’ve properly met. At that moment, Patty seems to realise what he’s doing and blushes profusely, though he doesn’t move his hand. Awsten accidentally catches Maxx’s eye, and the latter gives a quiet giggle, and a surprisingly knowing glance.

Ben looks at the clock. “You should go, Awsten. You have work tomorrow, and it’s already half 3.”

Awsten bolts to his feet, letting out a flustered “Fuck”. Patty looks like he’s fumbling with words for a few moments before he speaks. Eventually, he manages to get the words out.

“Could I... walk you home?”

Awsten has fucking butterflies. Even his butterflies have butterflies.

“I mean, sure,” he says, trying to sound nonchalant rather than thrilled, but the amused looks he gets from Foley, Ronnie and Maxx suggest that it didn’t work. Even Ben seems to be biting back a smile as the two head out the door. Awsten is acutely aware that they’re still holding hands.

\--------

Once they reach Awsten’s doorstep, Patty glances round cautiously. He’s been more uncomfortable since they left the woods, listening carefully for sounds whilst somehow still keeping the conversation going, telling Awsten about the unique powers which every vampire develops, including his own electrokinesis.

“I... I’m sorry I put everything on you like that,” he says quietly.

“I was happy to listen.” Awsten’s uncharacteristically serious. They fall silent for a moment, then Patty speaks again.

“Will you come again tomorrow?” he asks. He looks hopeful, and Awsten might explode from the soft look that Patty’s giving him, looking up through his eyelashes, head tilted down slightly.

“Yeah,” Awsten replies, and the way he says it sounds like a promise. “After sundown, right?”

“Right,” Patty replies, and he moves his hand out of Awsten’s. The latter looks down to grab his keys from his pocket, and when he looks up, Patty is gone. 

\--------

Awsten does go back the next night, and the night after that, and the night after that. His mood’s vastly improved, even though he’s exhausted due to his lack of sleep, and he’s hanging out with the others again, although they’re baffled by his insistence on leaving just before sunset whenever they hang out.

The first time he saw Geoff again after that night, he apologised so sincerely that Geoff put a hand on his forehead to check for a fever. Travis and Jawn are bewildered and a little pissed off by his mood, which is even more chipper than usual, and Otto just keeps encouraging him. Even though they all seem to want to know why he’s so happy, he refuses to tell them, and just grins when he leaves to go to Patty’s house. 

On the fourth night, Awsten notices something he hadn’t before. “Why are the others never all here at the same time? It’s always a different group.”

“They take it in turns feeding,” says Patty, a tiny bit shifty. That’s when Awsten notices the second thing: Patty’s voice is as scratchy as it had been that first night they met. He finally puts two and two together - it’s thirst.

“Wait - Have you not been eating? I mean, drinking? I... whatever you call it?” Patty’s silence tells him all he needs to know. “What the fuck, dude? Go, I’ll still be here when you get back.”

“I don’t know how long I’d be...” Patty starts, but his glance at the door, the flicker of the lights, and the hint of fangs in his mouth show how hungry he really is.

“I’ll still be here, go,” Awsten insists, “Cody and Maxx are in, right? We’ll play video games or some shit like that.”

“Go on, Patty, you can’t go without much longer,” says Ben from where he’s just arrived in the doorway. Patty sighs, then nods and slides out the door, wiping a small speck of blood off Ben’s collar on the way past.

Awsten looks at Ben, then moves to head to the other room to find Maxx and Cody. Ben stops him.

“Hey, can we talk?”

“You’re not gonna break up with me, are you?” Awsten deadpans, and Ben gives a little laugh, but he also rolls his eyes.

“Shut up, Awsten, and sit back down.”

Awsten does, having a very strange feeling that he’s about to get the shovel talk from his friend-turned-vampire. This really wasn’t how he’d ever expected his life to go.

“Are you going to ask me about my intentions with Patty?” Awsten asks, feeling a bit dumb for using the phrasing even in an ironic context.

“Not exactly. I know your ‘intentions’, you’re in love with him.”

Awsten balks. He really doesn’t want to even entertain the possibility that Ben’s right. They’ve only properly been talking for less than a week, and a month’s worth of dreams doesn’t actually mean much, at least in terms of getting to know someone.

“Why would you say that?”

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

“That doesn’t mean you should _say_ it!”

Ben shoots him an unimpressed look. “Believe it or not, I’m actually keeping an eye out for both of you. I just wanted you to be aware that... you’re human, ok?”

“Uh, no shit,” Awsten says, blinking at the sudden discussion of his mortality.

“Which means you can die of natural causes,” Ben continues as if Awsten hadn’t said anything, “and you’re much easier to kill, too.”

“ _Oh_ ,” Awsten mumbles inadequately. He thinks he knows where this is going.

“So… if you’re scared of what Patty could do to you if he’s not careful enough, or the rest of us, and especially Isaac, you should go. It’s not fair to anyone, including you. But if you’re not... you should tell Patty. He’s terrified you’re going to get hurt, it’s part of the reason he stays with you the entire time when you’re here, and it just means you’re at greater risk from him. Just... talk it out?” Ben’s face is a tangle of emotions.

“I’m not scared,” Awsten says, and he’s surprised to realise that he means it. Any fear of the psycho vampire after them all fades to nothing in comparison to the thrill of the possibility of being with Patty.

“In that case, I just want you to know that if you _do_ hurt Patty, nobody will ever find your body,” Ben tells him in a nonchalant tone, “now I’m going to find Ali, Ron wanted to show us something.”

Ben’s threat is much more terrifying than anything else they’d discussed, Awsten decides. 

\--------

By the time Patty gets back, Awsten has moved to Maxx’s room, where Cody and Zach are in the middle of a heated game of something which Awsten doesn’t actually recognise. That doesn’t stop him and Maxx yelling blatant lies about what’s happening to throw the other two off what they’re doing; hilariously, it’s working. Awsten looks up as Patty walks in, slides off the bed he’s sitting on, and pulls Patty into the latter‘s room by the hand.

“I was only gone a couple hours,” Patty says in a somewhat teasing tone.

“Yeah, we need to talk about that,” Awsten replies - at the pained, saddened look on Patty’s face, he rushes to add, “Not in, like, a bad way. We just... need to talk about it.”

Patty’s concern lessens, though he still looks a little tense “Okay?”

“You know I’m not gonna, like... break, if you leave me alone with the others, right?” Awsten says, in the gentlest tone he can manage. “I’m not scared of you, or Ben, or any of the others. And, from what you’ve said, I’d be crazy not to be scared of this Isaac dude, but I don’t care. I’d choose to spend time with you and be afraid over being safe without you any day.”

As per usual, Patty’s beautiful grin makes Awsten’s heart try to leap out of his chest. Patty takes his hand, rubbing his thumb over the callouses left from playing guitar.

“I... you’re sure? I just want you to be safe.”

“Obviously. There’s just one more question.”

“And what’s that?”

“Are we dating?”

Patty bursts out laughing, and Awsten frowns at him. He opens his mouth to say something but Patty puts his hand over Awsten’s mouth before he can finish.

“I kinda thought so, yeah.”

\--------

Patty walks Awsten home, as he has ever since Awsten started spending the nights at the house. As the reach the doorstep, Patty begins to speak.

“So, if we’re definitely dating, would it be okay if-” he cuts off mid-sentence, face ashen. Awsten turns to follow his gaze and feels sick to his stomach. There, nailed to his front door, are three rats. Two are dead, and one, horrifically, is still twitching.

Patty grits his teeth, though his eyes are still full of fear, and pulls the nails out with his bare hands. The nails scrape the palms, and he starts bleeding, leading to Awsten beginning to reach for them. Patty shakes his head.

“Leave them, they’ll heal any minute. How did he know where you live? He couldn’t have followed us, he doesn’t know where we live, does he? How does he even know who you are?” Patty sounds distraught. “Come back to the house, call in sick, _please_.” He’s obviously begging, and after what he’s just seen _at his own home_ , Awsten isn’t inclined to turn the offer down. 

Patty walks with him to his bedroom, where he grabs enough clothes for a couple of days (“If you need to stay longer,” says Patty, voice on edge, “you can wear some of mine.”) and a toothbrush, shoving them unceremoniously into the nearest backpack he can find. Patty basically herds him out the door, pausing only long enough to grab a phone charger before slamming the door behind them.

“That... he was at my house,” says Awsten, as if he’s just noticed. He feels sick. He feels _violated_.

“I know, babe,” Patty murmurs, rubbing his thumb over Awsten’s knuckles where they’re holding hands. “Let’s go.”

\--------

As promised, Awsten calls in sick the next day. His boss sounds sympathetic, and he makes a note to himself to work extra hard for a couple of days when this is all over. Patty is biting his fingernails, a habit he’d told Awsten he’d never shaken despite being turned, and Ben’s pacing. Foley and Ali are talking quietly in the corner, shooting concerned looks at Patty, whilst Ronnie seems to be trying to get Ben’s attention, trying to get him to sit down and stop stressing everyone out. Cody and Zach are unusually quiet, Dan is comfortingly composed, and Maxx is full of nervous energy. Eventually, Patty insists that everyone sleep, as they usually do during the day, but even after everyone else is gone, he stays, sat in the living room with Awsten.

“I’m sorry I got you into all of this,” Patty says softly. Awsten scoffs a little.

“Hey, whenever I get into trouble, it’s always 100% my own decision, okay?”

They exchange a look, with Awsten raising his eyebrows a little. When Patty nods almost imperceptibly, Awsten leans forwards and joins their lips.

Awsten has never, ever, in his life, been kissed like this. Patty’s lips are soft, ever so slightly colder than his own, and even though it’s not perfect technically, it is in every way that matters. The phrase ‘fireworks’ has never been something Awsten would apply to kissing, but this... he doesn’t know what else he’d call it. Eventually, he has to pull back a bit to get some air. Patty lets out a soft whine as he does so, and he giggles, high off the sensation.

“Some of us have to breathe, y’know,” he half-whispers, and Patty’s smile takes away what little breath he has left.

\--------

They sit there, gazing at each other slightly dopily, until Awsten’s phone buzzes.

“Shit!” Awsten blurts out, grabbing for the device and checking the caller ID. He answers as soon as he reads it. “Geoff?”

“Not exactly,” says a voice on the other end. “Hello, Awsten Knight. I’ve been hoping to speak to you.”

If he weren’t dead, Patty’s face would be drained of its colour as he stares at Awsten, hearing the voice through the phone even from this distance.

“Isaac?” Awsten asks, proud that his voice isn’t shaking.

“Excellent. Patrick told you about me.”

“You mean Patty?”

“Ah, of all the things I taught him, I wish the long lesson convincing him to use his proper name had stuck at the very least.” The voice is condescending, and Awsten’s spins tingles with it. 

“If it’s what he wants to be called, it’s his proper name, dipshit.”

Isaac laughs, and the hairs on Awsten’s neck stand up, though he admits that may also be a side-effect of the electric field radiating from Patty. “Now, now, Awsten. I wouldn’t get so unpleasant. After all, there had to be some way I got Mr Wigington’s phone, didn’t there?”

Awsten stiffens, turning horrified eyes to Patty, who looks nauseous. “What did you do to him?”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

There’s a movement on the other end of the line, then a new voice, and Awsten swears he could cry. “Awsten? What’s going on?”

“Geoff? Holy shit, Geoff, I’m so fucking sorry, I didn’t even think!”

“He just... told me to give him my phone and I did! Why did I do that? And he said to follow him, so I followed him... Awsten, what’s happening?” Geoff sounds almost hysterical, and Awsten doesn’t blame him.

“I swear, Geoff, I’m gonna fix this, okay?” Awsten says, voice now trembling.

There’s the murmur of Isaac’s voice, then Geoff speaks again, now sobbing in earnest. “He said to say... if this Patrick... Patty guy you were talking about doesn’t go with him... he’ll get Otto too. And he’ll find you, and he’ll make us kill each other in front of you.”

“Wonderful,” says Isaac, “and Geoff, darling, do stop crying.” Geoff chokes, and the sobs which had started immediately halt. “You have until two this coming morning to meet me at this... delightful little clearing right here. Just you and Patrick, if you please.” Then the phone line goes dead.

\--------

“You’re not going alone,” snaps Ben.

It’s been two hours, and he and Patty have been having this argument for almost the whole time.

“I’m not letting him get to any of you again, and he’s not having Awsten either!” Patty bites back.

“And what about Awsten’s friends? What do you think’s going to happen if we’re not there to help?”

“What do you think he’ll do if he realises I haven’t done what he said? He fucking mind controls humans, they’ll be dead in seconds once he works it out!”

“And you don’t think all of us have a good chance at surprising him? What about Foley’s invisibility? Or Ali’s telekinesis? They’d be fine for a surprise attack!”

“He’ll know! He always knows!” Ben looks taken aback at the fact that Patty just genuinely yelled at him.

“He said the two of us, you’re not going alone whatever happens, Patty!” Awsten cuts in, using the stunned silence to his advantage. It was the wrong thing to do. Patty and Ben both round on him.

“If we’re not going, you definitely aren’t! You’re more at risk than any of us!” Ben growls out.

“That thing you heard him do to Geoff? He’ll do it to you, and I don’t know how to stop him,” Patty says harshly.

“I’m not leaving my friends to kill each other over you being worried about me!”

“And how do you feel about Patty going?” Dan interrupts pointedly from the side. 

“I...” Of course Awsten doesn’t want Patty going. “Your logic can fuck off! They’re my best friends! And Patty...” He glances sideways. “He’s _Patty_!” It says everything, which is useful, since... Well. To Awsten, Patty _is_ everything.

“Trust me, we know that Patty’s Patty, and you’re you, and we’ve actually kinda grown to like you, somehow,” Ali says with an eye roll.

At that moment, Cody and Maxx break out of a silent conversation they seem to have been having solely through stares and eyebrow movements.

“What about Maxx’s forcefield?” asks Cody, “And my speed? I can move fast enough to get Awsten’s friends close to Maxx so he can shield them, and then Isaac has no leverage.”

“That... might work,” says Ben slowly, but Patty still looks worried. Ben sighs. “You say you want to stop him, but you shoot down every idea we have. At some point, you need to make a decision.”

“It’s the best plan we have,” Patty agrees reluctantly, “but Awsten isn’t coming.” Awsten scowls furiously.

“Like fuck I’m not! He’ll notice there’s something up if I don’t come.”

“Then you stay close enough to Maxx for his forcefield to reach you,” Ben states decisively, “and that’s how it’s going to be because otherwise you two will spend the rest of the day arguing about that when we need to decide logistics.”

Patty bites his lip and looks at his boyfriend. Awsten hesitates, then nods his agreement.

\--------

At 1:50am, Patty steps into the clearing, holding Awsten’s hand. Neither of them would ever admit it, but they’re gripping each other tightly, and Awsten’s fingers are whitening from it. As promised - or threatened - Geoff and Otto are under the old oak tree. They’re sat unnaturally straight, and their crossed legs and frightened expressions give vague impressions of schoolchildren who know they’re about to be scolded. A man who Awsten can only assume is Isaac is stood next to them, leaning on the trunk of the tree beside him.

“Patrick!” Isaac sounds delighted, and it makes Awsten’s skin crawl. “And you’ve brought Awsten too, how lovely. I wish I could say it was unexpected, but I knew you’d see it my way eventually. After all, soulmates are so troublesome. I can help you be rid of him, you know.”

Awsten freezes momentarily, and he’s fairly certain Patty does too. Soulmates? Was that why they’d dreamt of each other, why they’d gravitated together so fast? Isaac clearly notices both of their confused expressions.

“Ah, but of course. I never got around to telling you. You betrayed me before I could tell you anything. Well then, a lesson. Soulmates is a loose term for it. You can have more than one, but often, our... weaker brethren tend to try and keep the first one. They call to us, somewhat, and we call to them. Often the bonds are deeper, stronger, than those between mortals. They’re obviously nothing more than a distraction, but it is rather curious when they begin to manifest the powers they would get as one of us, and even more so on the few occasions we temporarily obtain that power too. Has yours done that yet, by the way?” he asks in an almost bored tone. Awsten bristles.

“Y’all don’t know shit. You could’ve just asked me this on the phone, you know, rather than bothering Patty? What is wrong with you?”

Patty squeezes his hand in warning, and Isaac chuckles. He steps forwards a little, paying no attention to Otto and Geoff except as much as necessary to ensure he doesn’t fall over them.

“He’s a feisty little one, Patrick. I can see why you’d grow attached. You always did get fond of the mortals easily.” He says ‘mortals’ the same way that Awsten would say something like ‘yeast infection’.

“And you never got attached enough,” Patty retorts, concealing the tremors in his voice, “besides, if I get too attached, why turn me in the first place?”

“You’ve forgotten. You’re trying to not think about how beautiful it is, feeling the skin break beneath your teeth, tasting the rush of blood in your mouth. I can help you remember,” Isaac says, and it’s clearly supposed to be a tempting offer.

At that moment, Cody speeds behind Isaac, grabbing Geoff and Otto and rushing them into the range of Maxx’s shield. Isaac hisses in fury, and in the time it takes the others to register what’s happening, Isaac lunges forward and tugs Awsten away from Patty, who reaches for him, crying out his name. Isaac takes a few paces backwards, breathing heavily in a bid to restrain his anger.

“Was it worth it, Patrick? Two mortals for this ‘special’ one?” he snarls out. Patty’s eyes are filled with terror, and the others emerge from the tree line, flanking Patty. Ben’s at his right shoulder, and Awsten’s relieved to register that Otto and Geoff are nowhere to be seen.

“Let him go, Isaac,” Patty orders, though the concern in his voice somewhat undermines his authority.

“Awsten, my darling?” Isaac starts, and Awsten is filled with fear, remembering what had happened to Geoff. “Why don’t you take this knife and make a nice long cut on your arm?”

Awsten can’t help himself. He takes the dagger which Isaac has produced from somewhere on his person and chooses a spot on his arm. Doing this feels _right_ , it feels _good_ , and he’s enveloped by a comforting feeling. Why would he ever want to do anything but what that voice tells him to do? He vaguely registers a horrified voice calling his name, but as soon as he’s finished, pain shoots up the left arm he’s just sliced. He gasps from the shock of it, and he glances up to look at Patty. His boyfriend looks like he wishes he could cry, and several of the others look halfway to that point themselves. Awsten drops the knife which is still dangling from his right hand, and Isaac laughs.

“I’ll cut you a deal, Patrick. If you can drink him without killing him, I’ll hand him back to you and we can settle this just the two of us. If you fail, you probably won’t want to stay here anyway. You’ll come with me.”

“You’re offering me a deal you know I can’t win,” Patty spits out, and Awsten could never before have imagined that Patty could sound this angry.

“Maybe so. But the alternative is I just kill him right here. Or maybe I take him with me. He might learn faster than you,” says Isaac, lowering his fangs to Awsten’s neck. His incisors graze a vein, and Awsten tries not to swallow hard.

“It’s ok,” Awsten says, staring straight at his boyfriend’s eyes. “You need to stop him, and this is the best way to stand a chance.” He feels surprisingly calm in the face of potential impending doom. Isaac laughs, but both Awsten and Patty ignore him.

“Are you sure?” asks Patty, “I... I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.”

“I trust you,” says Awsten, calmly. He does trust Patty, he trusts him implicitly. Besides, he’s prepared to die for the boy in front of him.

“You shouldn’t,” Patty warns, and Awsten hears the heavy sadness in the statement. Ben places a hand on Patty’s shoulder and murmurs something, and Awsten is hit with a horrible sense of realisation just as everything happens at once.

Patty steps forward a couple of paces, but his face morphs into a horrified expression. Awsten thinks about the dreams he’d had before he’d found Patty again, and just as he exhales sharply in shock and pain from the explosion of agony he’s experiencing, he remembers how almost every night, he’d looked down to see a knife emerging from between two of his own ribs.

Sure enough, when he glances down, a silver knife tip is glinting where it exits his body. No matter how much those dreams had felt real - _and with good reason_ , Awsten thinks hysterically - this is much, much worse. Patty’s scream of his name tears through him, and it cuts like a second stab wound. Within moments, Awsten feels Isaac’s loose grip on him being tugged off, and he’s dimly aware of Cody, Ali, Zach and Ronnie grabbing the vampire and pinning him to the ground.

“Awsten!” Patty’s voice is distant, even though Awsten’s fairly certain he’s right there beside him. Of course, he might be wrong. He’s struggling to pay attention to anything but the searing pain at the moment, and he doesn’t know exactly when, but he’s started crying at some point.

“Patty, it hurts, shit,” he manages to gasp out, “Jesus Christ, Patty, please!” He doesn’t know what he’s begging for, and Patty doesn’t seem to either.

“Ben!” Patty cries out for his friend, and Ben’s beside him in an instant. “What do I do? Fuck, what do I do?”

Ben takes charge at once. He glances over the injuries, taking stock of the amount of blood Awsten’s losing, then looks back at Patty. The older vampire is clearly affected by the blood, and his fangs have lengthened.

“Right, Awsten? Can you hear me?” Ben says, shaking Awsten ever so slightly when he doesn’t react.

“Hm? Yeah. Hurts. Not fun.”

“Do you want Patty to turn you, or do you want us to try to get you to a hospital? I don’t think there’s anything else we can do.” Ben’s speaking quickly, aware of the time-sensitive nature of the question.

“I don’t think I’ll make it to the ER,” Awsten replies hazily. Black spots are already flooding his vision, and the last thing he hears before he blacks out is Patty’s voice saying that he loves him.

\--------

Awsten’s never found waking up painful before. Difficult, sure. But painful? No. His jaw aches, and he’s so, _so_ hungry. Like, _hasn’t eaten in days_ hungry. He cracks his eyes open, groaning at the light, only to find Patty sat next to him, half-asleep.

“Not fair,” he whines, “how do you still look fucking perfect when you’re sleep-deprived and anyone else would look shitty?”

Patty jolts awake, on edge at first, but realising quickly that Awsten’s the one who had spoken. A wide smile splits his face, filled with relief.

“You’re awake!”

“Uh, I think I am. You being here definitely doesn’t rule out heaven, though,” Awsten says, only half-joking.

“Like you’re going to heaven,” comes Ben’s voice from the doorway, teasing. “I’ll let you two have a moment and tell the others you’re awake.”

He moves away and Awsten and Patty are left alone. For a moment, they do nothing but stare at each other, drinking in the sight. Then Patty speaks.

“I was so worried, I thought... I wondered if I was too late, you were so still...”

“Let me guess, me being quiet is scary?” Awsten tries to tease, but it comes out too seriously, and he knows from Patty’s face that that had been exactly how he’d felt.

“Ben’s gonna grab you some blood,” Patty says to fill the silence, “it has to be human to finish the transition, but we stole some from the nearest blood bank.”

“So why don’t you do that regularly?” Awsten asks. 

“There’s so many of us that it’s kind of an impossibility, they’d notice how much was gone. Besides, I don’t exactly trust myself.”

“I heard what you said before I passed out,” Awsten blurts out.

“Which bit?” Patty questions warily.

“When you said you loved me.”

“Oh. Um...”

“I do, too. I mean, I love you too.” Awsten has never felt so awkward getting his words out, but Patty’s eyes shine with delight.

“You do?”

“Obviously, I don’t get stabbed for just anyone,” he teases, and Patty actually manages to laugh.

“You’re not going to let me forget about that, are you?”

“Nope. We’ll be well into our, like, fourth century, and I’ll be like, ‘hey, remember that time I got stabbed for you?’”

Patty’s about to respond when there’s a bang in the doorway, and a muttered “Ow!” Awsten isn’t surprised at all when Geoff and Otto tumble through the doorway, followed by the vampires. Otto’s clutching his head, and Geoff is rubbing his elbow. They clearly tripped over each other to get in, and Geoff elbowed Otto in the head. _God_ , his friends are dumbasses. 

“You survived!” Maxx chirps from the centre of the group. “I mean, you died, but you survived!”

Cody smacks his arm.

“I’m so glad you’re not, uh. Perma-dead?” Geoff says, trying desperately to define Awsten’s dead-but-not state. 

“Honestly? Me too,” replies Awsten, grinning, “because that would totally suck.”

“Gotta agree on that one,” says Otto, “having you not totally dead is probably better.”

“Probably?!” Awsten squawks indignantly, hurling himself out of bed and tackling Otto, who topples backwards into Zach with an audible “Oof.”

“How about we wait until you’ve completely transitioned before you throw yourself at people?” Patty suggests concerned. As if on cue, Ben throws a bag at Awsten, who catches it instinctively.

“My brain wants to say ew, but shit, that smells good,” Awsten declares. He tears the top off the blood bag and gulps it down. “Ugh, it’s cold.”

“I’m sorry, did you want us to microwave it for you?” asks Foley jokingly. Awsten actually considers it for a second, and the others laugh. 

“Hey, What actually happened to Isaac?” Awsten queries a moment later. He hates to bring the tone down, but he really wants to know.

“So, uh. We kinda...”

At that moment, Awsten’s eyes roll back into his heard, though he remains standing. Everyone else fades to murmurs, and he thinks he can make out a face through the gloom. Suddenly, everything snaps into focus.

_He’s stood in the clearing again, and he can see his own immobile body. Patty’s sat by him, head in his hands and blood around his mouth._

_“He’ll be alright, Patty. You’ve done this enough, you know what you’re doing,” Ben reassures him calmly, though his eyes constantly darting to Awsten’s lax form indicate that he’s still nervous himself._

_Isaac is laughing, at least as well as he can with Ronnie’s knee pressing into his chest._

_“Any ideas what to do with this asshole?” Zach asks, and Ben smiles grimly._

_“That, I can definitely answer.”_

_Ben moves his hands in a sharp motion, and several layers of dirt lift from a spot under the tree. The hole left is at least 10 feet deep, and Awsten thinks with a morbid sort of satisfaction that he knows where this is going. Isaac isn’t laughing anymore, and just as Ben is about to kick him into the hole, Patty stops him._

_“May I?”_

_Ben stands back, though Ali is still telekinetically holding Isaac in place. Patty kneels down beside the restrained vampire, smiling in a way that is, in all honesty, downright unsettling._

_“I can’t wait for you to dry out.”_

_Patty kicks Isaac in the side, and he topples into the gaping maw of the earth. Ben claps his hands twice, and the hole fills back in. Before it gets too covered, Awsten can hear Isaac screaming._

Awsten's consciousness slams back into his own body. Patty’s hand is on his arm, and his boyfriend looks incredibly concerned.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“I think... I saw what happened. Holy shit, y’all are fucking terrifying.”

“What do you mean, you saw it?” Patty asks quietly.

“The dreams we had. I think that’s my, y’know. My thing,” Awsten says.

“You’re a seer,” Cody surmises. The others look at him, and he shrugs. “It seems like the obvious answer.”

“I think he’s right,” Ben says, “dreaming about such a specific situation is kind of a giveaway.”

“Well, in the unlikely event of Isaac getting out of that hole, we’ll probably have a heads up, then, right?” Zach declares. Some of the others roll their eyes at the delivery, but it’s clear that they agree.

“Well,” says Geoff, “if that’s all resolved, do you guys eat? I’m starving.”

\--------

Even a week later, Awsten still isn’t used to some of the advantages that come from vampirism. He might still not be as fast as Cody, but he’s definitely faster than he used to be. He can see as clearly in the dark as he can in the light, and he doesn’t get too cold or too hot. He also can’t blush, which has encouraged Patty to get slightly cheekier, brushing his hands over Awsten’s back or ass when passing behind him - after all, there’s no fast heartbeat or telltale flush to give them away. There had even been surprising (though not unwelcome) groping once or twice.

He’s delighted when Geoff finds a way to help all of them out with the sun problem. He’d delved into the weirdest parts of the internet and eventually found a witch - a real, bona fide witch, who had enchanted several rings to create a magical protection after Geoff gave his word that the vampires didn’t intend to hurt anyone. Seeing Patty in the sunshine is beautiful. The sun illuminates his face, making him look like he’s glowing, and his smile at the feeling of the sun on his skin is both infectious and stunning.

Right now, they’re sat at the edge of the woods, where it borders on a public park, and the setting sun is bathing the two of them. Patty spends as much time in the sun as he can, since he hasn’t been able to see it for four decades, and Awsten tends to go with him just to see him enjoying it. Of course, he’s still working to make sure that they have an income - they keep buying more and more things now that everyone can get out to all the shops when they’re open, and Awsten’s moved in as well, bringing Geoff and Otto (and eventually Jawn and Travis) trailing after him to visit regularly.

Often, Patty meets Awsten after work, sometimes with little gifts - just simple things, like a coffee or a cupcake. They walk back to the house holding hands, and often stay at home in companionable silence, both reading, or one of them playing music. Other times, Patty might disappear to talk to Ben or Ronnie for a while whilst Awsten causes havoc with Zach and Maxx, and Cody sometimes joins in as well.

Patty breaks Awsten out of his musings about his life now by speaking.

“Do you ever regret it?”

“Regret what?”

“Meeting me. Being turned, having to get involved in something so dangerous. Whichever.”

“Why would I?” Awsten says. He knows it’s partly Patty’s insecurity, and he also knows that what they’ve been through would definitely be too much for some people, but he doesn’t feel anything negative about how things have changed. “I love you, Patty. I’m happy with where I am now.”

“That’s good,” Patty answers, smiling in a way which is both happy and relieved, “I’m happy with where you are too.”

He tangles his fingers with Awsten’s. Yeah, Awsten wouldn’t change anything at all.


End file.
